Getty Kansas City Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid, reacting during Sunday Night Football against the New York Giants on September 21, 2025.

The Kansas City Chiefs are facing an opponent this week that has been embroiled in controversy, but Andy Reid doesn’t see the big deal about it.

Ahead of their game last week, San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh accused Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen of employing a complicated but legal sign-stealing system. The remarks drew some controversy and led to a heated exchange between the two on the field, but Reid downplayed the controversy this week.

Andy Reid Says Sign Stealing is Part of the Game

Ahead of this week’s game between the Chiefs and Jaguars, Reid was asked what he thought about the allegations that Coen was stealing signs from opposing offenses. Reid said it’s not an uncommon practice, noting that every team takes measures to conceal their signs so that opposing teams can’t decipher them.

“Listen, that goes on,” Reid said. “If you’re going to put a sign out there, guys are going to look at it and try to sneak it from you. The headsets have kind of taken away a little bit of that. That’s what it is. It’s all part of it.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also acknowledged that all NFL teams will steal signs if given the opportunity, saying the Chiefs make sure to come up with a fresh set of signals every week so they don’t give anything away.

“We switch signals like every single week,” Mahomes said. “We switch signals every single week knowing that the game is on TV, and teams watch that. We try to make sure that we’re interchanging that stuff so they can’t get a beat on what we’re trying to do.”

Saleh also acknowledged after his team’s loss to the Jaguars that he didn’t mean to criticize Coen and was actually trying to compliment the team on their thorough research on opponents. Saleh gave credit to the Jaguars for their win and success so far this season.

“Obviously, I did a poor job with the words,” Saleh said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “I mean, if I said the words film study, I don’t think we’re really talking about this. But I used signal-stealing, and that’s why I was so adamant about legally. I was just struggling for the words, but for Sean, same thing. These guys are the best in the world, and that’s why they’re there.”